After injury to an ankle, such as a fracture or severe ankle sprain, it is often necessary to completely immobilize the injured ankle through the use of a molded plaster or resin cast. Once the injury has been stabilized, however, recovery may be accelerated by removing the molded plaster or resin east and replacing it with a removable functional walking brace so that the ankle can be exercised while healing.
Even if the injury is not severe enough to warrant complete immobilization of the ankle, it is still sometimes necessary to use a functional walking brace to stabilize the ankle against inversion (the foot rolling inward), eversion (the foot rolling outward) and/or subluxation (partial dislocation) while still allowing the normal dorsiflexion and plantarflexion movement of the ankle.
A variety of ankle braces, walking casts and other orthopaedic ankle apparatuses have previously been proposed. For instance, in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,891, granted Dec. 18, 1990, and entitled "Variable Support Ankle Brace," an ankle brace comprising two relatively rigid side supports with inflatable bladders attached to them is described. Other ankle braces including air inflatable bladders are shown in Glenn W. Johnson, Jr.'s U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,280,489 and 4,628,945. These prior art devices proposed by Johnson are intended to be worn within a separate shoe and are also inflatable.
Thermal treatment has been made available with the use of orthopaedic gel pads which tend to mold themselves to fit the area they are applied to, providing a level of comfort and padding as well as providing thermal treatment of the affected area. One such pad is shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,801.
Prior art walking braces have frequently employed rigid support shells which may engage and irritate, pinch and damage the skin within the shoe. A principal object of the present invention is to effectively avoid this problem.